Voter turnout in Bulgaria’s Presidential Election on 25 October 2026 (updated)

Voter turnout across the country stood at 11.3% as of 11:30 a.m., down 3.7 percentage points compared with the previous presidential election five years ago, Boryana Dimitrova of Alpha Research told the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).

Voter turnout in the presidential election rose to 6.6% by 11 a.m., according to exit poll data from the Myara sociological agency.

“Voter turnout is slightly lower than in the previous election in 2021, but it is still too early to draw any conclusions,” Parvan Simeonov, director of the Myara polling agency, told the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).

Voter turnout in Bulgaria for the presidentia electon stood at 2.4% as of 9 a.m., according to data from the Myara sociological agency

At the same time, Alpha Research recorded voter turnout of just over 2%, Genoveva Petrova of the polling agency told BNR.

“Compared with previous elections, this represents a significant drop in turnout, particularly compared with the elections held in April, but also with the first round of the last presidential election in 2021. Interest is lower,” she commented.

According to Petrova, Sofia is one of the places where turnout has been slightly higher so far. “In regions where we have traditionally recorded greater interest in previous elections, turnout is currently even lower than the national average,” the sociologist added.

For the president and vice president to be elected in the first round, two conditions set out in the Constitution must be met simultaneously: the presidential ticket must receive more than half of all valid votes, and more than half of all eligible voters must have participated in the election.

Edited by Diana Tsankova